Harbour master says top five spot for St Peter Port a 'community effort'

BBC Radio Guernsey

Posted at17:5526 Jul

Guernsey's harbour master has said he is "delighted" that St Peter Port ranks in the top five of cruise ship destinations in western Europe.

The awards are based entirely on customer reviews posted on website Cruise Critic.

Captain Chad Murray says it is a vindication of what Guernsey has to offer.

BBC

It just shows that the effort that people are making is paying off, and really we should be congratulating the entire island. It's not just Visit Guernsey or harbours, it's a joined up community effort with all the locals, with the towns, with all the people providing excursions and experiences, it's fantastic."

Soil around Jersey finance centre was 'hazardous'

The soil around Jersey's new finance centre was so contaminated it was classed as "hazardous" by experts, it has been revealed.

Jersey Development Company

A freedom of information request showed multiple samples of the soil removed from the site before construction were considered to be "hazardous", with some samples only found to be "contaminated".

The centre was built on reclaimed land, but records were unclear on the composition of the soil.

After the extent of the contamination was discovered, health officials ruled that all of the soil should be buried in special lined cells at La Collette, as it was too dangerous to go to the reclamation site.

Specialist asbestos disposal experts were on site during the work to build the centre, and lorries were sprayed with water to clean off any contamination before they could transport the waste.

Staff cuts putting 'strain' on fire service

Jersey firefighters have said work to protect the public will "suffer" as the service looks to make a 10% cut in its workforce by 2019 despite an increase in workload.

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The Fire and Rescue Service Association, which represents local fire fighters, said the latest figures published in the service's activity report, were "alarming".

The report found last year had the highest level of accidental home fires in five years.

The association has warned staff losses will have a further "detrimental effect" on the service's ability to carry out its "statutory duty", which they say could lead to more fires, as there would be less time for staff to be involved in "prevention and education".

The airline is anticipating a delay to the delivery of the second of its new generation Dornier 228.

In the meantime the aircraft manufacturer is providing a loan plane, which when it requires upgrade work will be replaced by a "wet lease" plane.

There is no doubt that the delay to the delivery of the second new Dornier has caused significant issues and difficulties for Aurigny, but RUAG has stepped up to the plate and provided alternative arrangements to tide us over until the manufacturing and delivery of this aircraft is complete. Together, and working with the States in both islands, we will continue to do the best we can to deliver Alderney's vital air links."

Drinking and smoking could be causing rise in women's cancers

Jersey's medical officer has said the rate of women's cancer may be increasing in the island because of the effects of drinking and smoking.

The Channel Islands Cancer Report published by Public Health England shows about 70 more new cases of female cancer are being diagnosed each year.

Dr Susan Turnbull says people's lifestyles can affect them later in life.

It's likely that underlying the increase in the rate of women's cancers is the fact that, as a population they started to take up smoking a bit later than men did, and also excessive alcohol consumption. There's been a relatively recent feature in recent decades for women compared with men so those are key risk factors for cancer."

Guernsey in top 5 cruise destinations for British Isles and Western Europe

Rob England

BBC News Online

Posted at15:5926 Jul

St Peter Port in Guernsey has been named the fourth most popular cruise destination in the British Isles and Western Europe, based on traveller reviews posted to a website.

BBC

Cruise Critic, which collates reviews and information for cruise destinations across the world, listed Amsterdam as first for the region, with Cork and Lisbon second and third.

A spokeswoman for Visit Guernsey said they were "delighted" St Peter Port had been acknowledged and said the recent investment to improve the disembarking experience for passengers had "paid dividends".

Holiday makers described St Peter Port as:

Warm welcome, picturesque town with lots of good shopping, intriguing alleyways and good places to eat. Also a castle to explore."

Cruise Critic member ‘Beenwalking’

Warm, scenic, friendly and fascinating blend of England and France, full of historic old buildings and a shopping paradise. Easy to walk around."

Cruise Critic member ‘VikingExplorer’

Loved Loved Loved Guernsey. Tendered in and we walked through a very lovely village that made me think of fairy tales. Lovely friendly people. And gorgeous churches."

Migrants 'worried about future' after Brexit

BBC Radio Jersey

Posted at15:3326 Jul

Foreign consuls in Jersey say migrants in the island are worried about what will happen to their rights after Brexit.

The island's Minister for External Relations, Senator Sir Phillip Bailhache, met representatives of nine nations to discuss their concerns and said many people are uncertain of their position after Britain leaves the EU.

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The chief minister made it very clear a year ago that as far as the foreign EU nationals who are living in Jersey at the moment, we want them to stay, and we cannot think of any good reason at the moment why anything should interfere with that outcome."

Equality campaign group welcomes blood donation review

BBC Radio Jersey

Posted at14:0526 Jul

A spokesperson for the Channel Island group which campaigns for equality has welcomed the news that rules governing who can give blood in Jersey could be changed.

At the moment, gay and bisexual men can only donate blood 12 months after they last had sex. The law was originally introduced in the UK in an attempt to stop the spread of AIDS and other infections from contaminated blood.

Vic Tanner Davey, the chief executive officer of Liberate said it was a "step forward" in making an inclusive society.

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It's good news, it's a stigma and it comes from the bad old days of seeing the gay community as the people who carry AIDS, it's just such an old fashioned view, it does need updating. As long as the health authorities are saying it is safe to do that, there is no reason why Jersey shouldn't follow suit.

Golf courses threatened by L'Ancresse sea wall changes

Two Guernsey golf clubs are warning of the potential "catastrophic consequences" of the proposed repositioning of historic sea defences in a nearby bay.

The Environment and Infrastructure Committee is proposing to re-engineer the area at the east end of L'Ancresse, returning some of the Common to sand dunes.

Shaun McDade, acting Chairman of Golf Course Management LBG, the body which manages the golf links on behalf of the Royal Guernsey and L'Ancresse clubs has said the proposals could cause "substantial" change in their courses, and the possible removal of a WW2 pillbox.

BBC

We are talking about a significant chunk of the golf course that could disappear under water and that's calamitous for the current course layout, both in terms of the physical effects and the economic effects.

Number of people dying from cancer 'much lower' than those diagnosed

Jersey's Medical Officer has said there has been some success in the fight against cancer.

The latest Channel Islands Cancer Report, published by Public Health England showed lung, breast and prostate cancers were the most common cause of cancer deaths between 2010-2014.

But Dr Susan Turnbull said the number of people dying from the disease is much lower than the number of people diagnosed.

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Quite a lot of the cancers where we've been talking about high incidence rates have actually got average or low mortality rates. Which tells us that the treatment is really effective and early diagnosis is working. It's obviously tragic when anybody dies, but it's a public health success when the numbers are relatively low.

Castle Cornet to be lit up in Samaritans campaign

On Wednesday and Thursday evenings Castle Cornet is to be lit up in green as part of a national campaign from the charity The Samaritans.

BBC

The UK-based charity provides support services to people in emotional distress, and the local branch says it has helped 7,000 people in the Bailiwick last year.

Its campaign, "talk to us", aims to raise awareness of suicide prevention through improving listening skills.

Zee Lanoe, director of the Guernsey branch, said: "Listening is a huge part of what we do. This enables people to explore their feelings and ways to cope with whatever they are going through. This is a vital skill, not only in what we do at The Samaritans, but just as importantly in the workplace and at home. We hope by drawing attention to this we can encourage Islanders to develop and use their listening skills”.

Football: Women's champions St Paul's withdraw from league

Jersey's women's champions St Paul's have pulled out of the upcoming 2017-18 season.

BBC

They've failed to find a new manager and also blame a lack of players.

St Paul's have won the island's women's league title for the last five years in a row.

I have been proud of everything that St Paul's Ladies have achieved and would like to personally thank all the girls for their commitment and for wearing the St Paul’s colours with pride. The many successes over the years, together with the friendships that have been made has made this decision very hard for the committee to make.

Cooking and electrical fires at 'five year high'

Cooking and electrical fires have led to a five-year high in the number of fires in Jersey homes.

Last year crews from Jersey Fire and Rescue Service tackled fires in 67 homes, 22 more than the year before.

After cooking the second highest cause of a fire in the island was electrical, whilst the number of fires in public, commercial and industrial premises fell to 21 in the last year, a five year low.

The fire service report noted whilst the number of fires in the home increased, the number of injuries fell from seven in 2015 to four last year.

Despite the huge effort the service undertakes to prevent fires it is very worrying that there was 32% increase in fires in people’s homes in 2016. We will continue to do everything we can to promote fire safety and protect people from harm which will be a challenge in the coming years with reduced budgets and less firefighters. We will have to be innovative and look at new ways of working to try to carry on delivering the same level of service with fewer resources.’